Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

Starship Troopers 2: Hero Of The Federation (2004)

The remains of a Federation unit hole up in an abandoned outpost awaiting evacuation when it becomes apparent that they have a new bug threat in their midst.

Starship Troopers is one of my favourite guilty pleasures. On the surface, it’s just a dim-witted and militaristic sci-fi action movie, but underneath it’s actually a very funny black comedy and social satire in a similar vein to Paul Verhoeven’s other darkly comic sci-fi actioner Robocop. But as with Robocop’s sequel, the streak of black humour is removed for Starship Troopers 2 and the result is a much more run of the mill affair. Aliens meets Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers in this no frills straight to DVD release that’s executed efficiently enough and has some pretty decent effects; in fact it’s rather reminiscent of the Resident Evil movies in feel and quality.

It’s done with little imagination and the ending is weak as it tries in a very halfhearted way to ape the political satire of the first film, but it’s an inoffensive diversion that’ll satisfy anyone with low expectations and a couple of hours to kill.